Final Cut Express

Rating:
Summary: Great intro into pro editing...
Review: Believe it or not I purchased FCP 3.0 a year ago as well as several books and cdRom based tutorials, but never really caught on to Apple's way of editing. The migration I made over from PC based Media Studio pro and Rex Edit proved difficult for me. That said I recently purchased a new PowerBook and took advantage of a $99 promotional buy of FCE. With nothing to lose I have found the intro to Fianl Cut Pro within Final Cut Express very encouraging.

This software along with PeachPit Press's Final Cut Express Quick Start have proven to be a great combination and easily understandable introduction to a very Pro based Tool. And, don't just look at FCE as a temporary editing solution until you spend the $1000 for FCP4, but even as a full featured set editing app all by itself.

With the exception of Studio's and individuals requiring professional level editng and capabilities intended for commercial and theatrical releases etc... FCE should prove to be money well spent at either$299, $249 and for sure $99
dollars!

NEF

Rating:
Summary: Simply amazing
Review: I am an avid Mac user, and I love creating digital movies with Final Cut Pro, and Final Cut Express will do all the same great things Pro does, but this program is catered to those who only use the DV format(most new camcorders do this nowadays) so this is perfect for home video enthusiasts. My only regret is that I wish this program had come sooner(because I only use DV!!) but I will say that this is THE home editing solution to get, and it's around [$$$] less than PRO, so you can't go wrong. If you have a Mac, and like to create home movies, you must get Final Cut Express! Have fun making movies!

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, intuitive, and easy to get started
Review: I bought a copy of Final Cut Express to edit a short film that I had shot on MiniDV. My previous experience was with Adobe's Premiere which I used without any formal training to my unfortunate frustration. These are some of my observations after finishing my first rough cut with Final Cut Express.

Final Cut Express 1.0.0 had a scary "unexpectedly quit" error that had me simultaneously sweating and squirming. There's a temporary work-around and it's fixable with a downloaded patch (1.0.1) from the Apple Support website.

Rendering clips happened quickly enough on my 700MHz G3 iBook.

I've found Final Cut Express to be very easy to use and control. The controls are simple to use and understand. The main thing is that, unlike with Premiere, I didn't become immediately frustrated with it. I'm positive that Premiere was simply "too professional" a package for me to handle. I'm sure that on the right system and with the right training it is an excellent product. For me right now, I just need a step up from iMovie.

According to the manual all the controls and instructions are applicable to the Final Cut Pro interface. Final Cut Express appears to be a good training ground for those who eventually will migrate to the Final Cut Pro. The documentation also says that Final Cut Express projects can be opened in Final Cut Pro, though Final Cut Express cannot open Final Cut Pro projects.

I still haven't scratched the surface of the capabilities of the package. The manual on the CD-ROM is a 600+ page .pdf file that covers not only the technical procedures for performing video and audio tasks, but also provides some advice and hints that you should keep in mind during shooting to make the post-production steps easier.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, intuitive, and easy to get started
Review: I bought a copy of Final Cut Express to edit a short film that I had shot on MiniDV. My previous experience was with Adobe's Premiere which I used without any formal training to my unfortunate frustration. These are some of my observations after finishing my first rough cut with Final Cut Express.

Final Cut Express 1.0.0 had a scary "unexpectedly quit" error that had me simultaneously sweating and squirming. There's a temporary work-around and it's fixable with a downloaded patch (1.0.1) from the Apple Support website.

Rendering clips happened quickly enough on my 700MHz G3 iBook.

I've found Final Cut Express to be very easy to use and control. The controls are simple to use and understand. The main thing is that, unlike with Premiere, I didn't become immediately frustrated with it. I'm positive that Premiere was simply "too professional" a package for me to handle. I'm sure that on the right system and with the right training it is an excellent product. For me right now, I just need a step up from iMovie.

According to the manual all the controls and instructions are applicable to the Final Cut Pro interface. Final Cut Express appears to be a good training ground for those who eventually will migrate to the Final Cut Pro. The documentation also says that Final Cut Express projects can be opened in Final Cut Pro, though Final Cut Express cannot open Final Cut Pro projects.

I still haven't scratched the surface of the capabilities of the package. The manual on the CD-ROM is a 600+ page .pdf file that covers not only the technical procedures for performing video and audio tasks, but also provides some advice and hints that you should keep in mind during shooting to make the post-production steps easier.

Rating:
Summary: Finally updated -- addendum to my previous review
Review: Okay, Apple finally updated FCE, and after downloading the patch, FCE now will do what it is supposed to do without crashing. A few of the controls still are not quite up to the "pro" standard -- which is mildly annoying, given that the promotion for the software was that it was "just like Final Cut Pro except that you are limited to DV editing." However, it is now more than adequate for even advanced amateurs and its compositing and slow-motion capability are outstanding. 99% of users will never push it as far as I do, and I recently did an 8-layer composite with greenscreen, three layers of pyro effects, filters and motion on every layer and slow-motion applied. Came out great and didn't crash once. I only wish they had updated it earlier.

Rating:
Summary: Finally updated -- addendum to my previous review
Review: Okay, Apple finally updated FCE, and after downloading the patch, FCE now will do what it is supposed to do without crashing. A few of the controls still are not quite up to the "pro" standard -- which is mildly annoying, given that the promotion for the software was that it was "just like Final Cut Pro except that you are limited to DV editing." However, it is now more than adequate for even advanced amateurs and its compositing and slow-motion capability are outstanding. 99% of users will never push it as far as I do, and I recently did an 8-layer composite with greenscreen, three layers of pyro effects, filters and motion on every layer and slow-motion applied. Came out great and didn't crash once. I only wish they had updated it earlier.

Rating:
Summary: Finally updated -- addendum to my previous review
Review: Okay, Apple finally updated FCE, and after downloading the patch, FCE now will do what it is supposed to do without crashing. A few of the controls still are not quite up to the "pro" standard -- which is mildly annoying, given that the promotion for the software was that it was "just like Final Cut Pro except that you are limited to DV editing." However, it is now more than adequate for even advanced amateurs and its compositing and slow-motion capability are outstanding. 99% of users will never push it as far as I do, and I recently did an 8-layer composite with greenscreen, three layers of pyro effects, filters and motion on every layer and slow-motion applied. Came out great and didn't crash once. I only wish they had updated it earlier.

Rating:
Summary: I had real problems
Review: Okay, maybe I'm pushing the limits of Final Cut Express doing 5-layer composites, but I routinely crash the program so badly on my 800mhz iMac that the program actually won't boot again until I throw away the User Preferences file. It also crashes if I try to adjust "Brightness and Contrast" and export the file as an AVI. Be warned -- it's better than iMovie but it does NOT have all the features of Final Cut Pro -- not even close. The motion commands are crippled and the software itself has yet to be updated, which indicates that Apple isn't making this a priority. I've tested FCP and found it has none of these problems, so I expect I'll have to upgrade.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: This is a great software if u are inbetween iMovie and Final Cut Pro but you are worried about price. Great title and effects editing. Overall a smart purchase for a smart product